Sexing the Plant

[dante70]

Hi all,

Well this seems to be a debatable issue. I have done a large research in forums, books,etc..., about how early can we sex the plant. Some experienced growers (i suppose very honest ones) say with total confidence that is possible to sex the plant between the 3th and 4th week of vegetation, and this applies to large number of different strains according to their experience. They say with a magnifying lupe (x10) it is possible to detect early signs of primordial flowers normally between the fourth and sixth node or when they reach a certain mature development. Actually in Ed Rosenthal book "Ask ED" he seems to agree with that method of early flowering.
Dispite this some people seem relutant to agree. Now im a total begginer growing cannabis so i need experienced people here who can help me with this, confirming or not. Why? Well the problem is that i have few space in my garden outside and dont have much money to spend on enormous quantities of pre-mixed soil for all the plants. Besides im growing for my personal use, so dont need much quantity (i smoke little). This means i have to find an reliable and early way to determine the sex of the plants to be able to select the female ones. Hope your experience can help me. Thank you. Regards.

 

[LighTer]

It seems you have already done your research. It is what it is. Pre-flowers would be the only way to tell. And those come either on their own or when you force them to show sex in 12/12

 

[Twelve12]

From research, you can force the plant into flowering at anytime, remember that they will not be as strong as the plants which has been in veg stage longer. The 4th week is safe, and if you want to be extra safe do it on the 8th week. That way the plant is all grown and matured to produce the best buds, given optimal condition and care.

Of course if growing in hydro one can force flowering much shorter. Right now I'm starting with soil and that's what I will stick with, 8th week. It seemed I have 3 more weeks to go!!! Good luck on yours turning up females.

 

[SciFi]

You can't force a plant into flowering when it's not DNA mature.

Clones are almost always DNA mature when taken.

A seedling however, if you put into 12/12 as soon as it pops will still take 4-8 weeks to show flowers. Some say the extra stress causes expression of hermaphrodite emergency traits, because the plant thinks the season is over already.

Supposedly 24H gives you 33% more growth over 18/6, and I'd imagine 50% more then 12/12.

 

[LighTer]

You can't force a plant into flowering when it's not DNA mature.

Clones are almost always DNA mature when taken.

A seedling however, if you put into 12/12 as soon as it pops will still take 4-8 weeks to show flowers. Some say the extra stress causes expression of hermaphrodite emergency traits, because the plant thinks the season is over already.

DNA is constant (unless exposed to DNA altering substance, eg. UV radiation). Do you instead mean levels of hormones used to control maturation "stage"?

 

[SciFi]

Yes. The genotype of a plant combined with the environment results in a phenotype. The phenotype dictates when the plant generates proper hormones. That date is programmed into the plant via expression of a DNA chain, which if repeated more is causes the plant to pre-flower sooner, versus later under light-ready conditions. Hence the term DNA mature, sexually mature, pre-flowered, or etc.

Any way you cut it, it's programmed into the plant, and it won't show any sooner then allowed by it's phenotype. The same way some strains take 8 weeks to go cloudy and some take 12 weeks. How soon it show's it's pre-flowers is in the genetics.

 

[2Tango4mango]

well one can tell with out preflowers often just by the growth rate and stature, especially if outside. The dudes will almost certainly be the tallest with the lesser amount of true leaves. When talking outdoors this can be as early as the end of week two. Just as a quick tip, the less stress the better, when stressed the plants go male as it is less complex to support. Hope this helps, happy growing.

 

[SciFi]

You might be able to tell with certain strains in certain conditions, but that's not the whole story. My seedlings had two females that were taller then the males and had a shit ton more branches.

Internode spacing, branching patterns, leaf patterns, and even our holy thc content production are all expressions of phenotypes.